1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printed circuit board production apparatus and a printing machine, and more particularly to a printed circuit board production apparatus and a printing machine of the type having a plurality of working units.
2. Background Art
Heretofore, as a printed circuit board production apparatus having a plurality of working units, there has been known a component mounting apparatus (printed circuit board production apparatus) having two mounting units (working units), as disclosed, for example, in JP 2010-251450A.
Specifically, a component mounting apparatus disclosed in the JP 2010-251450A comprises: two mounting units each provided with a board conveying path (board conveying section) and a mounting head; and a detachable partition member provided between the two mounting units to separate respective working spaces of the mounting units from each other.
In this component mounting apparatus, when the working spaces of the two working units are separated from each other by the partition member, one of the working units cannot be moved into and operated within the working space of the other working unit. On the other hand, when the working spaces of the two working units are not separated from each other, one of the working units can be moved into and operated within the working space of the other working unit, so that it becomes possible to enhance the flexibility in working mode.
The above component mounting apparatus is configured such that, when the working spaces are separated from each other by the partition member, machine setup for one of the mounting units can be performed even during operation of the other mounting unit, whereas, when the working spaces are not separated from each other, the operations of both of the mounting units are stopped during machine setup for either one of the mounting units. As just described, in the above component mounting apparatus, when the partition member is not attached, the operations of both of the mounting units are stopped during the machine setup for one of the mounting units, because, in this state, an operating region of the other mounting unit will be exposed to the outside.
In this type of conventional component mounting apparatus, as mentioned above, when the working spaces of the two mounting units are not separated from each other, although it becomes possible to enhance the flexibility in working mode, the operations of both of the mounting units are stopped during the machine setup for either one of the mounting units, which causes a problem of deterioration in production efficiency.